The soul of ambition meets the heart of passion
by halucynacja
Summary: Clinging to her ambition, Iwase chooses to work herself to the ground with her last resort, a story that will guarantee a comeback as a mangaka. Meanwhile Eiji with a heart of a boy, grows as a person, yet not out of his own stories. Both of them meet with their own stories, and interpretation of passion and determination.
1. Chapter 1

Determination.

Ambition.

Hard work.

These words were the centre of her life. The growth in her works and in her own life reflected these words. Yet, in spite of this she still lived the life of a woman who was starving for affection. Her prior attempts showed her that it wasn't so easy to get the right attention even as a beautiful, smart and successful woman. So due to her past experience she decided to stop with such irrelevant details and give her career full attention. If no one had given her the affection she carved for, then why not marry her career as a manga author. At the very least it would bring her happiness with every result backed by the hard work and devotion she poured into her manga to produce such high rankings.

But it wasn't enough. Now she would bury herself in manga to forget her painful past of unrequited love and for her own good as a prideful woman with ambition. She didn't want to go back to the world of novels. That would mean an equal defeat to Ashirogi Muto, which was why she would cling onto her pride and ambition to achieve her full-out victory over the other authors.

That was why she was currently sweating in a dirty t-shirt with short sleeves and a pair of black jogging pants desperately trying to finish up her storyboard. Lately, she had found a perfect idea which would bring her 1st place in the rankings.

No. It would even beat to shame the geniuses of the manga world.

A very dark ominous aura surrounded her, a creepy smile showing as her writing sped up with every page. There was no way she would give up so easily after thinking so hard to find the perfect idea. The moment she finished her storyboard, a dull ringing filled the room. It came from her phone which displayed _Kosugi Tatsurou_.

"Hello. Kosugi speaking. Is the script ready?" said a slightly panicked voice from the other side of the line.

"Yes, I've just finished it. I was about to meet you to show the story," replied a pleased Iwase. In the meantime, she got herself a thick jacket, a pair of winter shoes and as she was about to leave the doorstep, a folder with the storyboard tucked under her left arm, the voice came back this time with more power:

"WAIT. You want to go out in this weather!?"

She held the phone as far as she could from the source of the shout and briefly wondered what he meant with that, but brushed the thought off. Till she took a closer look at the weather.

Everything was covered in rain, the storm clearly not showing signs of letting up.

It was a battlefield of waterbombs and howling winds without any chance of a ceasefire on the streets.

She came back to her senses at the sound of the phone.

"Hallo? Iwase-san. Can you hear me?" he asked very concerned, buzzing sounds of masses in the background.

"I'm sorry. I can hear you." She wondered how long the rain was going to wreck the city landscape and which route would be the best to avoid getting drenched to the bone.

"I've called out to you a few times, but you didn't answer me."

"I'm very sorry. I must have spaced out. I will come to you to the editorial department in 15, no, 10 minutes. Please wait for me," she said while putting the folder securely underneath her jacket to avoid getting it wet.

Her ears met with a distinct horrified shout.

"In this weather!? Are you out of your mind? You stay where you are and wait for the storm to calm down. In the news they said it would calm down within two or three hours. I'll come then–"

"We DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO WAIT. The storyboard is ready and tomorrow is the serialization meeting." She knew it was a fight itself to write a storyboard which could end serialized. Her previous three works had met with utter rejection and this time around she had to get passed especially with the story she had come up with. Her pride would absolutely not accept a fourth rejection. In the midst of her bitter thoughts, a very ignored editor tried to get to her which didn't work at all. Then all of a sudden, she called out:

"Wait at our meeting place. I'll be there in a few minutes."

And with this she rushed out of the building towards the nearest station, leaving her poor editor call her back again and again which obviously ended in vain as she had turned off her phone and put into her pocket.

Kosugi had no other choice than to go to the office. Luckily, he was only a few steps away in contrast to Iwase, who in the meantime had successfully knocked out some of the pedestrians on the way to the train.

During Iwase's power run in freezing conditions at top speed, while soaking wet, but her precious protected from the unholy bombardments of water upon the unforgiving earth,

Kosugi was warming up with a cup of coffee offered by Hattori, editor of Ashirogi Muto. A few other editors with the chief editor were here despite the bad weather. That made the newbie look up with even more respect to his superior and fellow editors. Not 10 minutes passed since he drank the coffee when to his utter surprise or more like shock a completely soaked Iwase came up to him panting like there was no tomorrow.

Kosugi threw her a bewildered look. "Unbelievable, this person," he mumbled, standing up from his place to help the woman out.

That quickly was followed by a reprimanding litany of: "What WERE you THINKING about?!" or "Do you know how BAD the weather is right now?" and a "What if you catch a cold?" with a "I hope you don't get a fever from this."

His ranting went unheard by her as she was busy checking if the script was safe and sound from the raging war of water gods above their heads.

Relieved when seeing her most precious dry papers, she sat down in the corner of the editorial office, a warm tea served before her and a big towel wound around her arms.

"Really? What should I do with you?" heaved the slightly calmer editor.

"Read the storyboard. This time I am absolutely confident in this work" she replied absent-minded.

Kusogi sighed and gave up in reprimanding her farther. He knew by now how stubborn she could get to achieve something she set her mind on. Not that it was any bad to be ambitious yet he didn't want to get his author sick or even worse put on the hospital bed.

It was enough that they had one such incident and that was one too much. What was left to do is read the manuscript, while the author got warmer and dryer.

He let out a sigh and sat down to read. Whispers carried on at the editors' desks, quiet typing interrupting here and there.

Yuujirou, sitting next to Akira, who kept going through his own pile of manuscripts, leaned forward to the opposite desk, where Yoshida roused from his dozing and scrolled on his phone.

"That's some determination to come in this weather to bring the manuscript."

"Or craziness," added Aida, who was passing by their desks, a cup of coffee in his right hand.

"If only all authors could be so hard working," mumbled under his nose Yoshida, a displeased frown on his face.

"It's going to be interesting to see the work after this much trouble," wondered Yuujirou, looking at the absent face of the woman at the back.

"We will have to wait and see. Tomorrow is the serialization meeting," concluded Akira putting a bunch of papers into a neat pile, calmly taking another stack of papers.

The whispers may have gone on a bit longer if not for the chief editor.

"Quit the talking and get back to work."

"Yes, sir" they replied, instantly resuming to work, the pair at the back left alone if for a few curious peeks.

Rhythmic typing and a rustle of papers made up for the background sound.

Iwase regained most of warmth and a skewed resemblance of proper appearance with the messy hair and indoor clothes, but remained silent seeing the intense look in her editor's eyes. The moment he finished the last page, she opened her mouth to ask how it was, but was cut off.

"This is…"

Panic slowly rose at the longer pause, yet shook it off before it could settle down.

"How is it?" she asked, putting up her usual strict demeanor even if concern showed in her stiff posture. Despite confidence in her work, it was always unnerving to hear her editor's thoughts regarding the story. She took a deep breath and asked again after not getting an answer: "What do you think of it?"

"This is…" he trailed off as more pressure reached her and in consequence caused others to perk up their ears in order to hear the answer. Even the chief was slightly curious, but didn't show it continuing his work at the computer.

Iwase leaned towards him as he mumbled something under his nose. Some of the fellow editors stopped their work.

"What?" asked she more panicked than before.

"This is…"

He shot up from his chair.

"AMAZING!"

The whole office perked up from the statement, only a relieved look forming on the female's face.

"What did I tell you!? Quiet!" responded firstly the chief to which everyone immediately got back to work.

"I'm very sorry," said the peeved Kusagi bowing down in apology. Then, he grabbed Iwase's hand and dragged her to a more private place, out from the editorial room.

Once they sat down a wave of whispers began that were again stopped with another shout of the chief editor. Quite a shouty day in such a rainy weather.

On the other side down the corridor at a corner with a table Iwase and Kusagi were busy discussing her work.

"How did you come up with such an interesting setting?" The excitement rolled off him in his clear bounce.

"Well, in our last meeting you were gave me some good ideas, but I came up with this one when I remembered my previous work. Of course, my previous work is completely different from this one," she explained she taking a sip from her newly made coffee, which she got from the coffee machine.

"Still, to come up with something like this. Now getting 1st place is not even a dream. No. Even surpassing Ashirogi Muto's record of votes could be even done. I have no complaints to this one." He flashed her a bright smile, a sunny shine to the dreary day.

"The only thing left is an artist. I don't want to have Niizuma draw this and I can't draw myself," she flat-out declared. It had bothered her a lot to have Niizuma write for her as she herself wanted to surpass him, but didn't have the time nor acquaintances to look for a suitable partner.

A very malicious smile crept up at her normally kind editor.

"That's something you don't need to worry about. While you have been busy writing, I've kept on looking for a suitable artist for you and recently I got an offer. The artist has a very good drawing which personally I think would suit your story the best," he stated in triumphant.

"I wanted to introduce you to each other tomorrow at 9 am in the café in front of the office."

"6 hours before the serialization meeting?" She raised an eyebrow. "That would mean that you must have a lot of faith in my work. Normally one would meet after the serialization was known, not before."

Which was true in a way. If the work didn't pass then there would be no meaning in meeting beforehand to discuss the storyboard. Though even if it didn't pass one could work together with the next manga, but that would be after knowing the results and not before.

In her case she could bring her draft without any help of an artist, as she was given leeway of a sort because of the consistency of her previous works and an agreement, where at worst for her they would put her with Niizuma, seeing how they matched before. It was for this reason they let her submit this one draft. Naturally if it didn't pass, the agreement would become void.

"It's true that at first I wasn't sure. I'm sorry for not having faith in you." He bowed his head in an apology similar to the chief editor, though less rushed.

"It is strange in a way. Even before reading this story, I saw the fire in your eyes, and somehow unconsciously knew that you would get a serialization. Even better. That you would definitely surpass the geniuses."

A fire lit in his eyes while saying this, which was backed by an even stronger aura of determination from her side. She clasped her and his hands together.

"We will definitely surpass them. Definitely."

A very intense dark aura surrounded them to the point of making some of the editors, who came to get some coffee to sweat.

"That's going to be interesting," Akira whispered under his nose yet loudly enough to be heard by the others who nodded in unison.

"By the way, they begin to scary me," commented Yuujirou as the atmosphere around them thickened with an ominous dark aura.

Having reached an agreement, a surprisingly amount of them within a few hours, and made their way to their desks in order not to be caught by the spreading intimidating aura.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day at exactly 8 am Iwase woke up with a splitting headache. Automatically she took some painkillers to soothe her pain. She didn't have any time or luxury to have a cold as she had to add some changes to her script. After their meeting her editor had clearly stated that the script was good as it was so she only needed rest as not to catch a cold. But on her way back she suddenly came up with more ideas which would perfectly fit the story without destroying the content. She had pressed Kosugi to give more critique on where to improve even when he had already told her that in his opinion these details didn't need to be changed. He had even told her not to do anything with it and _rest_.

Yet as if in a rebellious phase, her mind was set to make some changes, which was why she was currently revising her own work for the umpteenth time within the 24 hours. Good that she had taken a shower the night before, that way she didn't smell as badly and was warm and toasty. When she finished her revisions, pleased at the improvements this time, the clock on her wall read 7.30.

Enough time head out and arrive on time. She took a grey coat which reached to the knees covering her black track-suit. Since she had been busy with writing, she paid less attention to choosing and matching her clothing, having some comfortable and clean ones at hand than the fashionable one. Not to say she threw them out, quite the opposite. She still had her fancy attire, but let them in the wardrobe during her work time. Which morphed into all time apart from the time she needed to appear professional.

Like this time, she chose her nice grey coat over the jacket from last night so she wouldn't appear too unkempt to the artist she was going to meet. She brushed her hair into a neat bun, packed the revised storyboard and headed out.

It was 8.55 when she arrived at the café.

The knot in her stomach tightened as the reality breathed down her neck. Even with Kosugi's reassurance, it didn't stop the growing panic inside her at the thought of rejection.

Rejection.

How blatant it sounded.

And what a scary thought it was.

Up till now, as she was razing and polishing the draft, pulling some strings to rip a chance for a comeback, her work let her drown and put away the cold reality of Rejection.

All her hard work, for nothing.

Literally nothing. Her savings had taken a nice blow, during her time of creative writing. Not much to end in poverty, but definitely to take a break from any creative writing if this one got rejected.

The knot tightened again, a sharp sting in her lower stomach.

Last she needed was her period to screw her work time.

"Excuse me," someone said behind her, and lightly pushed her aside to get inside.

"Sorr–"

She was about to apologize for blocking the way, but was ignored. Her knot of anxiety loosened just a bit.

_Slap_

Her cheeks would burn a bit as well, but she needed to put herself together. She mustered up her usual confident self and with a straight posture entered the café firmly holding the folder with the story in her right hand.

She looked around for a bit when she noticed her editor waving to her from a table near a window. A figure she didn't know of sat beside him. She neared them with a faint of a smile and sat down in front of them.

The person next to her editor was a female looking to be in her mid-twenties with brown eyes and glasses. She had dark brown hair kept in pigtail braids and wore a white blouse. As soon as the girl noticed the approaching female, she got up and introduced herself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kato Natsumi. I have been working as an assistant with Ashirogi Muto on their work PCP. I have been introduced as an artist, but up until now I have not had the chance to test myself in the workings of an artist. I am looking forward to working with you."

Iwase could feel the tingling of nervousness around her akin to her own.

"_Ashirogi Muto's assistant…" _she thought looking back at her relationship to them. It was an embarrassing spectacle and a chore to go through each feeling, each passage of her life.

But it was a needed thing to do, as tedious as it was. She grew on her embarrassment, grew on her devotion, and thrived in the many cold realizations.

She harbored a grudge at first, though it mostly converted to rivalry throughout the months. She was thankful for them to come and give her a helping hand when she had been at her most vulnerable state as an author during the moment of +Natural dropping in the rankings. She had her stone hard pride as an author, but currently didn't have much of a choice to refuse an artist. Although a lot of offers came in, all of them were turned down by her because no one suited her tastes, and even less the story. Which was why she would go though the same procedure with the woman in front of her like with the many others. Exchange greetings, analyze their style, see how they take to the story. It didn't matter how suitable Kusogi thought she was.

It did grate on her pride, which she had to bite down, to go through so many failures and mismatching styles and potentially go through the same with the offer of the woman. She let out a small sigh, leaving the woman in a more uncomfortable situation and slight confusion. It was a nerve-wrecking situation to be in.

For the potential artist even more so as she was an amateur in the production of a manga and compared to the size and amount of Akina Aiko's accomplishments, a simple midget.

The silence finally broke off after the few minutes when Kosugi noticed the distress of the assistant.

"So. Introductions." He looked at Iwase expectantly.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Iwase Aiko. Currently working on a new work after +Natural was canceled. I would be very content on working with you under two conditions," Iwase looked straight at the woman in front of her. A glint of fire in her eyes. A challenge issued.

"First one," she began, "is to have a drawing style matching my story."

The potential artist, straightened at that, gulping down, a glimmer of determination. A response.

"Second," Iwase leaned forward so their faces were only a few inches apart, "if you don't put your whole being into this work then I shall not hesitate to cease working with you. Do you fully agree on these conditions?"

The story was a weigh to be carried by these two. Iwase couldn't afford, as much as she didn't want to get a rejection, or worse, be stuck with Niizuma, to lower her expectations towards the drawing style.

It was her stupid pride speaking. The reason for her many heartbreaks.

"Yes." No hesitance. The nervous tremble in her hands, a contrast to the steady fiery stare.

That warranted a raised eyebrow. Iwase blinked in surprise, as well as Kusogi, stuck between them.

"Very well," Iwase sat down together with her now-established partner. _"Now, down to work," _she thought.

"I have a question of mine to you, do you mind?

"Not at all," replied the slightly less nervous, but more confused potential artist.

"It lies not in my interest to meddle in someone's business as long as they work diligently on their part, but you said you worked as an assistant, why the change of heart and decide to become an artist?" she asked while placing the folder with the revised storybook on her lap.

"You see, up till now I've considered working as an assistant due to my love for manga. Never before has crossed my mind the thought of becoming an artist," answered she looking straight into Iwase's eyes.

"Then why suddenly become an artist?" asked the editor, stopping shuffling though his notes.

"Well, lately I have become more interested in drawing manga myself. The stories are sadly not interesting enough to pass any meeting, but I have confidence in the drawings," At that her eyes lit up. "So, when I heard an author was in a pinch, looking for an artist I offered. What surprised me was when I suddenly saw you, Akina Aiko, successful writer, at the entrance."

"My editor never told you that I was looking for someone to draw for my story?"

"No," the other countered sharing Iwase's surprise. Suddenly the two girls turned their attention to the long-forgotten editor.

"What can I say? I thought that if I told her beforehand that the author was you, Akina, then surly she would have refused so I simply…" he said slowly feeling very little under the intense gaze of the prideful woman.

"Set up a meeting to see if we clicked together, I see," Iwase ended turning her attention to her folder. Bitter as she was at having found no fitting artist, she didn't mind at this point to have a complete amateur as long as they could draw a very satisfying manuscript.

"If you don't like the thought of me being an amateur, you don't have to force yourself." The other female's nervousness came back at the strained atmosphere.

"That won't be needed," sprang Kosugi up, a wave of confidence overflowing him. He opened his bag and took a few already drawn sheets of paper. "You can judge yourself."

He shoved them in Iwase's direction. She picked them and carefully examined them.

The style, rough around the edges; would need to work on the head angles, the way of to bring out the softness in the profile – good; that could work.

Iwase went through the other sketches, backgrounds, people, animals, ornate emblems, robots and lots of grassland.

At that she looked at Kusogi, who seemed to catch on and sheepishly added: "Thought it would be good to test her without giving the whole idea. It wouldn't be good to out the story."

Some time passed, the artist sipping on her green tea for her nerves as Iwase stopped on some pages longer than on others, making some obscure notes in her notebook.

The angle of the robots – soft in the right spots, faces of the people – some were off in the angles, otherwise fitting for a seinen, but could be remodeled for a shonen look.

What sold her was the posture of the female figures. They did lean more into the seinen area, but that was the allure, the realistic, not overly shonen style, though they had a fairy-like quality to them. She could see the protagonists in that style.

Conclusion: jackpot. If polished in the right way, improved some spots and fitted into the idea of the story, that was what she had in mind.

They could work with that.

A very dark aura emerged and a scary smile crept up. Without any words the editor understood it immediately, but for the sake of the confused woman, whose nervousness was in an on and off mode, he prodded: "So, what do you think?"

"Very good. With practice she will match my story by far the best among the other candidates."

A sigh of relief escaped the said woman at the judgment. She had been afraid of the thoughts even after the reassuring words of the editor, and hearing it from the author herself put her at an ease to switch off her bouts of nervousness. Her heart could use some rest.

"For rough sketches, they seem to capture the general idea of the story in the style," added briefly Iwase.

"The angle of the faces, the posture in certain poses, and the shadows in light and dark settings could be improved. As for the style, we will discuss it more in-depth after letting you read the story and fitting it accordingly," added Kosugi. As a more experienced editor, he had a better eye for drawings after many months of working in Shounen Jack.

The artist nodded in acknowledgement "I will do my best."

"Of course," interjected Iwase with confidence. "This aside, I have the storyboard for the serialization meeting. I made a few revisions."

"Sure," the editor took a sip of his own cranberry tea, to choke on it.

"Wait! A few revisions? I told you to leave it be and take it easy."

He wanted to reprimand her even more, but when he saw her darkening mad glint with the clear _Try to say one more word_, he quickly gave up the idea. It didn't matter how much he told her off, she would do it her way anyway. Besides, he was as hard-headed as her, if not more, he would choose a better timing to let her back down to rest.

"Show it to me," he took the draft from her and began reading. Meanwhile, the two women were enjoying a quiet chat about the art style and general idea of the story over their cups.

"You deleted the last scene." His tone was neutral, yet laced with disapproval.

The author stiffened. She could already feel the upcoming heated discussion on why, no, yes.

"Why?" As expected, her editor didn't disappoint.

"It destroyed the flow, made it too rushed at the end." It was Iwase's struggle to find a middle point to that problem, and she didn't want to back down on it.

"No, it was the exact nice point to make the scenes conclude without loosing their dynamic at the end. Perfect for the end of the sequence of the dynamic shifts of action scenes.

"That might be so, yet it leads to a quick conclusion, instead of leaving a little cliff-hanger, and smoothly progressing onto the next chapter."

"Yes, that sounds reasonable, but take in the character of the protagonist, and the introduction as a sole chapter. That pointe at the end is much better as it functions as a dry punchline, a perfect fit for the protagonist's perspective that bases on that kind of dark irony. You have a good point in not letting rushed conclusions, but let's leave that for the next chapters. This is an introduction chapter. It needs exactly this kind of gritty ending, like a stand-alone piece. It sums up the action well, and gives insight of the kind of narration to be expected. I wouldn't worry about the lack of a strong cliff-hanger. The ending statement functions as that in stead of the cut in an event, which you aimed for. That is even better, as it cleverly brings out which perspective you will show and the kind of humor you will present later on. That itself happens not often in shonen mangas. As said, your idea of smoothing out the ending to make a softer transition, without the packed punchline ending, is better for the next chapters, to keep the consistency of the plot, in stead of a string of rushed chapters."

He shuffled through the stacks of paper, careful not to mix them up and put the previous draft into the envelope for the meeting.

"This will definitely pass the serialization meeting," he stated while putting away the envelope.

She nodded to the explanation, which got her thinking of the set-up for the next chapters.

A bit miffed for overdoing, but pleased at her editor's choice. He had a keen eye for building a plotline.

He drank his tea and looked at the time. It was a little over 11 o'clock, just 4 hours away from the meeting. They could go through the style with their artist.

"Alright, I think that is the final version. We have still some time left. I suggest letting Kato-san read through the final draft." They were about to settle down to discuss the details of the drawings, and letting the artist read through the story at last, when Kosugi interjected:

"Before I forget." He stood up from his place and reached his hand.

"Congratulations on getting the place. I'm looking forward to working with you on the drawings and Iwase on the story." He glanced at Iwase, who also stood up.

"As the author, I hope for a fruitful partnership and a success for our work." She shook her hands with Kato's, who amidst the formality also stood up.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, and hope for a great teamwork. I will do my best to polish my drawings to match Akina Aiko-san's work." She squeezed both Kosugi's and Iwase's hands at that.

All of them smiled and went back to work.

And more tea and coffee were drunk within these few hours.


End file.
